[ERC] Circuit of Ireland 2014

[Fast Eddie WRC]

QS, Wiegand (2:27.6): « Really very difficult stage, very slippery and very easy to make a mistake. Try to stay on the road.

QS, Abbring (2:27.4): " Any grip, so slippery, car can slide every time… but very exciting! Any idea where is the grip."

QS, Lappi (2:28.2): « quite slippy! hard tyres. Some shiny black tops, trying my best

QS, Breen (2:26.220): « Gard slicks, easy to make a mistake »

[noel157]

Cars flagged away for practice and Q stage, short video: https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/712...FC6wZ6rggJdcxH

Courtesy of Ditchslapped @ Twitter

[noel157]

So far class after 5 cars in QS: Barrable (2:22.3), Breen +3.8, Abbring +5.1, Wiegand +5.3, Lappi +5.9

[Tom206wrc]

Interesting QS for Robert Consani

[noel157]

Interesting QS for Robert Consani

Bit of an unusual time with rain and tyres.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cars back after QS...



Great time for Barrable in the Fiesta !

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I think Breen will be happy considering...

Craig BREEN (PEUGEOT) Qualifying -
"That was interesting, we are on a hard slick. We made a complete mess of the first hairpin and spun the car. It was a survival stage, just get through. Not exactly first on the road, but somewhere close."

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Barrable promises to “push hard” for a top result against Europe’s best on Circuit of Ireland ...

Robert Barrable has promised he is “going to push hard – we won’t be driving just for a finish” when he contests his home round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the Circuit of Ireland (April 17-19), in his unmistakeable Tunnock’s World Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5.

The 26-year old Dublin driver was the first to place an entry to secure a place in the starting line up, which sees Europe’s top rally teams and drivers compete against the Irish elite.

A recent Tarmac test outing on the West Cork Rally didn’t go to plan, with a misfire and early retirement, but Robert will head to Belfast next week match fit, having just finished the gruelling Rally Portugal. The Tunnock’s Fiesta R5 left Faro immediately after the finish on Sunday and arrived back at CA1 Sport in Carlisle on Tuesday night, where it was converted from gravel to Tarmac specification in preparation for a pre-event test in Ireland next Monday.

The Circuit of Ireland was the second rally Robert ever did in his career, contesting the 2009 event in a Fiesta ST. He returned the following year in a Citroën C2 R2, but it wasn’t until his third attempt in 2012 that he recorded his first finish – coming home 6th in the IRC (8th overall) in a ŠKODA Fabia S2000.

Robert: “This year’s Circuit of Ireland is going to be fantastic – a challenging event with a lot of tough ERC and Irish competition, and it will be very interesting to see how the new Peugeot 208T16 compares to the Fiesta R5 and Fabia S2000s. And for those reasons, it’s hard to predict what our pace is going to be like until we get to the Qualifying Stage. But one thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a very tough rally.

“Even though they’re relatively close to home, I don’t know the stages so well. I might have done one or two of them back in 2009; Hamilton’s Folly stands out and I’ve definitely done the stage near Banbridge and the Lisburn spectator stage. I’m sure Bobby Willis [event director] has picked some really good and very challenging stages. There are some very nice rally roads in that area – not so narrow and bumpy, but fast and flowing.

“I’m really excited to be doing such a high-class ERC event an hour and a half drive away from where I live in Swords, and I hope the fans come out in force to support us and enjoy the event. We’re going to push hard – we won’t be driving just for a finish, we’ll be aiming for a good result.”

[mousti]

Bit of an unusual time with rain and tyres.

Maybe also soft tyre like Barrable?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

No holding back in qualifying...